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It's also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama made in Japan at a time when the country was still reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire populations fears, became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning more than twenty sequels and spinoffs. Here, we present the original, 1954 Japanese version, along with Godzilla: King of the Monsters!, the 1956 American reworking.

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The best of the series, and also the most serious minded. A cautionary tale against the horrors of the nuclear bomb. I found this a very dark and quite frightening film, wonderfully done with the exact tone required. The story gives you in subtle doses an idea of what to expect without giving the surprise away ,so when you first see Godzilla, it truly terrifies you. There was an Americanized version made at the same time, which starred Perry Mason actor Raymond Burr as an intrepid reporter named Steve Martin sent from American to investigate the goings on in Japan, however the version most prefer is the original Japanese version titled GOJIRA

A hideous reptilian monster terrifies the poor, innocent people of Japan in this retro cult classic. The radioactive foot prints left by Godzilla (1954) is a very real and current event mirrored by the Americans atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Perhaps its just another example of the arts imitating life.